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| Allen defeats Quad City 6-1 to force game seven - photo by SceneByKimberly.com |
Chapter one of "Do or Die" didn't have much suspense as the Allen Americans used goals by six different players (Asuchuk, Graham, Ludwig, Lessard, Hanson, McMillin) to defeat the Quad City Mallards 6-1 before a crowd of 3753 at the Allen Event Center last night. Chapter two of "Do or Die" takes place tonight (Wednesday) in a decisive game seven with the winner heading directly for Denver after the game to take on a well rested Cutthroats team for the Presidents' Cup in a series that starts Friday night.
Steve Martinson Post Game Comments:
- I had a feeling that the offense would break out tonight just because we have had so many chances and haven't been scoring and this team normally does not have a problem scoring goals. I am a big believer in percentages and the percentages were with us tonight.
- We won every period and that is a good sign. We had a couple of ill advised penalties in the third period which gave them some life when they scored their power play goal but we didn't let up and got those two insurance goals late in the period to make it 6-1.
- Special teams were great again tonight as they have been the entire series. Our power play is really clicking at this point.
- The difference tonight was the traffic in front of the net and a lot of buzzing around the net. It is not rocket science as a goalie as good as Heemskerk is going to stop the puck if he can see it. The only way you are going to be successful is to get in front of him and block his vision. You have to make it harder for him to see the puck.
- At this point it is all about the players as they know what to do. If we show up with the same energy tomorrow as we did tonight we will be okay. If we have the net presence we had tonight, go to the tough areas like we did tonight we will score.
TERRY RUSKOWSKI COMMENTS:
- Here are some Terry Ruskowski post game quotes from various articles. Sounds like coach Ruskowski was already working on getting his team prepared for game seven.
"How's that for a performance?" coach Terry Ruskowski said. "This is a playoff game. This is the sixth game, if they win this we go to a championship. Are you kidding me ... this kind of effort? They stepped it up a notch and we dropped down two."
"I guess all the media coverage and all the fans and all the support we got went to their head and thought we were just superstars," Ruskowski said. "We forgot what got us there and that was hard work and desire."
"It was one of the things we (emphasized) before the game, be disciplined," Ruskowski said. "You can't take unnecessary penalties. You can't take them. You can't because ... our penalty kill is not doing the job and their power play is awesome. So what do we do? We give them six power plays."
"They were taking shots in the slot area in front of our net," Ruskowski said. "They were just peppering our goalies and we just sat around and watched them. We miss (defenseman) Matt Duffy. We do. It screws up all of my defense."
OTHER COMMENTS:
- The special team stats back up what both coaches talked about post game. Quad City was 1-4 on the power play and is now 2-22 (9.1%) for the series while Allen was 3-6 in the game and for the series is now 7-20 (35%).
- With six different guys getting goals and twelve different players getting a point the depth of Allen really showed in the game. It is a big advantage when you can put three lines on the ice and all three can score.
- The three stars of the game were #1 Bryan Pitton who lowered his GAA to 1.94, #2 Bruce Graham with the game winning goal and #3 Darryl Bootland with two assists and a fight.
- No official word on the referee for game seven tonight but my understanding is the referee will be Tudor Floru.
- I mentioned yesterday the Americans would have a new back up goalie (Marc-Antoine Gelinas) in the line up and that obviously did not happen. Will Yanakeff was the backup goalie. I won't got into the details but nothing is official related to Gelinas at this point. There are paperwork issues that need to be resolved before anything can or will be announced. Until everything gets resolved Will Yanakeff remains the back up goalie and today he celebrates his 22nd birthday so Happy Birthday Will!
- Silly season has already started with rumors of the St. Charles Chill not returning for year two. Apparently employees have been let go and the team is trying to find new ownership in order to keep the team alive.
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| Courtesy CHL Memes |
DID YOU KNOW: The Allen Americans have never lost a game seven at home and in eighteen years of coaching Steve Martinson has never lost a game seven at home.
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